Too Many Choices
by Annie789
Summary: War is hard enough when you're trying to determine who sold you out to the enemy.  Your family threatening your Muggle girlfriend makes it just impossible.  Sirius Black wonders if things can get any worse.  MWPP, Lily, ensemble cast.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Too Many Choices a.k.a. "Sirius Dates a Muggle"  
Rating: PG-13 (mainly for cursing, although the worst stuff is in British)  
Notes: War is hard enough when you're trying to determine who sold you out to the enemy. Your family threatening your Muggle girlfriend makes it just impossible. Sirius Black wonders if things can get any worse. MWPP, Lily, ensemble cast.  
About _Elaborate Lives_: "Elaborate Lives" is a universe of inter-related, stand alone stories featuring the members of Harry's parents' generation. None of the stories are sequels or prequels to the others, and the entries may be read in any order.  
_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and write this for amusement only_

_March 1979_

"We know, Sirius."

Sirius Black tried to keep his face unreadable as he stared at his new lunch companion. When his younger brother suddenly dropped into the seat across the table, he'd been surprised to say the least. He hadn't actually _spoken_ with Regulus since he was sixteen - save in passing once in the hallways of Hogwarts during seventh year when his brother, along with several minions, hissed derogatory comments in his direction (and James insisted that time didn't really count). While the fact that his Death Eater brother actually deigned to talk with him was odd and more than a little disconcerting, it was the greeting that completely threw him. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn Regulus had spent too much time enjoying Muggle film noir or some other such nonsense. It was the only rational explanation for the cloak and dagger act.

"Know what, Regulus? That you're a little berk?" Attempting to look cool, calm, and collected, Sirius leaned back in his seat, kicked his booted feet onto the table, and took a large bite of his sandwich. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he briefly wondered if things had become so bad that Death Eaters were now comfortable killing a man in an open air cafe with hundreds of witnesses present, and his eyes flicked to his brother's currently wand-less hands. "So glad you finally figured that out."

Regulus calmly folded his hands on the table. "We know about the girl, the," he paused as if choking on something before finally managing to add, "Muggle." When Sirius didn't respond, he continued, "We know how long you've been ... involved with her." Regulus somehow managed to look even more ill with each new phrase. "We know where the two of you like to meet, we know how often she spends the night at your home, we know where she attends university and where she lives. We. Know. Everything."

Slowly, Sirius dropped his feet back to the ground, certain that, any minute now, he was going to wake up in the Potters' kitchen where James would laugh at him for having one too many and Lily would pretend to be horrified, because he simply _could not_ be having this conversation with his brother. When he didn't awake to a joyous hangover, Sirius sat up in his seat. "And is there a purpose to this little unveiling of knowledge?" He asked, trying to sound dangerous. He was only partially successful.

"You aren't stupid, Sirius," Regulus replied. "Why do you _think_ I'm here?"

"Because you get some sick fascination telling me about how you spy on my personal life?" He offered. "Look, you and I both know that no one back home gives a damn what I do. I'm not part of your perfect little pure-blood family anymore, remember? So you can take your pathetic attempts at intimidation and-"

"Do you honestly think the family isn't outraged at the thought of what you're doing?" Regulus asked. "Did you really expect us to just look the other way because Mother removed you from the family tree? That's still Black blood in your veins and the thought of you polluting it with that, that _thing_ turns our stomachs. Andromeda was bad enough, but this ... well, let's just say Bella cannot wait for the opportune moment to ensure you don't destroy our good name."

Sirius glared at his younger brother, who continued to be the picture of cold detachment. "Is that a threat?"

"More like an observation." Regulus calmly rose from his seat. "I just wanted to let you know that we know. You can do anything you want with that knowledge."

-...-

"James!" Sirius slammed open the side door to the Potters small home. When he didn't get an immediate response, he shouted again. "James!"

"What the hell?" James appeared a moment later, his hair looking more tousled than usual and his shirt partially unbuttoned. His eyes narrowed into a death glare. "This had better be important."

"Of course it is, dear," Lily remarked from somewhere in the next room. "He didn't call you 'Prongs.'" She stepped around James a moment later, looking only slightly less disheveled than her husband. With some resignation, she crossed to the stove. "You two go talk. I'll get some tea started."

Ordinarily, he would have made some sort of inappropriate remark about the time of day and the activities he'd clearly interrupted. Of course, ordinarily he wouldn't be dropping by to tell them that his little brother had just threatened to murder his girlfriend. Ignoring Lily's suggestion that they move the conversation elsewhere, Sirius took a seat at the Potters' kitchen table. "We have a serious problem."

James leaned against the counter and ran a hand through his hair, trying to get it to lay flat. It was an exercise in futility. "And by 'serious problem' you mean ...?"

"Regulus just cornered me at lunch and threatened Catherine." Sirius told him.

Lily froze, her hand hovering above the teapot, while James shot him a surprised look. "What?"

"Yeah. He said Bellatrix is planning to come after her." Sirius dropped his head into his hands, suddenly feeling the weight of the afternoon. "I mean, I guess she's planning to come after me, as well, but, well, it's different. In a fight, I can take Bellatrix. What can Catherine do? Hell, she doesn't even know magic _exists_, let alone what to do if someone comes after her with a killing curse."

"Uh," James cleared his throat, "Padfoot, um, you mean you haven't told her yet that you're, well, you know?" He waved a hand through the air as if holding an invisible wand.

Sirius watched him in silence for a moment, then offered, "Not exactly."

"And by 'not exactly,'" James translated, "You mean 'no.'"

"It's complicated," he said. Seeing James and Lily exchange a look, he charged ahead. "Look, I don't want to argue about that right now. I still haven't told you the worst part, yet."

"If your family really is plotting to murder your girlfriend," James pushed himself away from the counter, "How can it get worse?"

"Oh, I don't know, the fact that no one but us, Peter, and Remus know that I'm involved with Catherine." He'd had a lot of time to think between leaving the cafe, and arriving at the Potters, and during that time it had become painfully obvious that things just did not add up. When he'd finally put his finger on what he'd been missing, he wished he hadn't. But it was what it was - no one knew he was dating anyone (let alone the identity of the girl-in-question), except James, Lily, Peter, and Remus. So how did Regulus and the rest of the family find out?

"You can't possibly think -" James began.

"I can and I do," Sirius snapped at him.

"Look," Lily interrupted them, "Let's be logical here. Over the past eight months, you've gone on numerous dates in very public places. Anyone could have seen you snogging Catherine on a multitude of occasions and reported back to your family. It's not like the two of you were trying to sneak around. And that makes much more sense than thinking one of us ran off to the nearest Death Eater to pass along information about your love life. For one, I can't imagine anyone doing something like that, and secondly, Sirius, despite what you think, you're just not that important to you-know-who."

James sighed. "Look, mate, I know it's creepy, but Lily's right. That makes a lot more sense than thinking one of us turned traitor. Where did you ever get an idea like that, anyway?"

"There's been...talk." Sirius mumbled. Last month at an Order meeting, he'd gotten some strange looks and had shrugged them off; at least until Fabian Prewett pulled him aside and told him there were rumors that the Order had been compromised and that his name was among the leading candidates for the mole. _"I think it's just another one of you-know-who's tricks,"_ Fabian had told him, "_What better way to defeat us than to have us all turn against each other? The way this is going, you'll probably hear rumors about Dumbledore next."_ While he wanted to believe Fabian, he couldn't quite shake the well-known fact that every rumor starts with a grain of truth.

Lily and James exchanged another look. "You do realize that there was a rumor that I was having an affair with a Death Eater, don't you? Because I was friends with Severus Snape years ago?" Lily finally offered. "It was right after the wedding. And I've heard one about _you_ being a spy because your family supports you-know-who's views, and a similar one about Remus, probably because a lot of werewolves are siding with the Death Eaters. It's all rubbish. I expect next month, there'll be one flying around about James or Peter. Just watch. It's how he operates. People are a lot easier to conquer when they can't trust each other long enough to put up a united front."

"That's what Fabian said," Sirius said.

"The bigger question," Lily continued, "Is why did Regulus warn you?"

James shot her a surprised look while Sirius asked, "What?"

"Well, if I was going to kill someone, I certainly wouldn't go tell my victim's lover of my plans." Lily shivered, "They're setting you up for something, Sirius. Don't play into it."

"You make it sound like I'm going to run off and do something rash," he protested.

James cleared his throat. "Padfoot, you don't exactly have a reputation for being the most, er -"

"You rush into things head first without thinking about the consequences," Lily supplied.

"I was going to say 'composed.'" James shot Lily a dirty look before turning to Sirius. "But Lily's right. They're expecting you to do something headstrong and stupid and get yourself killed - or worse."

"I'm not going to do something stupid, but I'm also not just going to sit back and wait for Bellatrix to try something," Sirius growled.

"We don't have to sit back and wait," James said. "We just need to be smart about what we do. Bellatrix and Regulus have never really shown any imagination. We can beat them at this, but we have to do it by out-thinking them." He paused, "Sirius, you're not going to like this, but the first task is going to have to be telling Catherine who you really are."

"You're right." Sirius crossed his arms and glared at the table. "I hate this already."


	2. Chapter 2

"You're late," James remarked as Peter finally stepped through the door.

"No I'm not." Peter frowned at him, pulling a watch from his pocket. "I only got off work thirty minutes ago, and I tried to get here as fast as I could but getting here from there..."

"He's just giving you a hard time," Remus interrupted from where he'd been sulking on the sofa. He scowled at James, "_Now_ will someone tell me what's going on? I get an owl telling me we're having a secret emergency meeting at your place, and when I show up, you and Lily are acting funny, Sirius is glowering in the corner, and the only thing anyone will tell me is that we have to wait for Pete and that I can't say anything to anyone else, even people in the Order. Pete's here. What's the big secret?"

Sirius saw James's eyes dart towards him and he knew that this was his cue. He still didn't see why Remus and Peter had to be involved in this. Hell, he still didn't see why he couldn't just take Catherine and run off to some exotic country like - Sirius struggled to think of an exotic country but the only place that came to mind was 'Canada.' That probably didn't count. But when he came up with a country that was actually exotic, they could run away there and James and Lily could join them later and they could all live happily and peacefully far, far, _far_ away from Regulus and Bellatrix and the rest of his insane family. Crossing his arms, he slunk lower in his chair. "My family is trying to kill my girlfriend."

"What?" Peter nearly fell over.

Remus didn't react at all. He steepled his fingers and looked at Lily. "Is he being serious or is this his latest joke gone wrong?"

"You know, Moony, I've had a shitty day." Sirius stood. "My Death Eater brother stops me in the middle of Muggle London to tell me that my psychopathic cousin is stalking my girlfriend. After this lovely little chat with you, I have to go tell that girlfriend that I'm a wizard and - if she doesn't dump me on the spot or run screaming into the night - that my magical deranged relatives are planning to kill her. The _last_ thing I need right now is you throwing all that damn Snape stuff back in my face."

Remus's eyes widened, "I didn't mean..."

"Okay, that's enough." James interrupted. "Sirius, sit down. Remus, you've been trying to provoke a fight for the last hour. Whether you meant _that_ or not, it's not hard to see why he might think you did."

Ignoring James's order, Sirius pointed violently in the direction of Remus, "Now do you see why I wanted you and me to handle this?"

"If you don't want me here..." Remus started.

"Enough!" James bellowed. "Remus, you're staying. Sirius, sit down and stop making a bloody fool of yourself. Peter..." he glanced over at the only sane man in the room, "Help?"

"Um...well, can I ask a question?" Peter fidgeted with his jacket, glancing around the room. When no one told him 'no,' he cleared his throat, "Um, this might be stupid, but, uh, if I was going to kill a girl, I wouldn't go tell her boyfriend. Uh...are they really that stupid?"

"Of course not," Remus replied from the couch. "They're probably setting Sirius up to do something stupid and get himself killed."

_Am I the only one who didn't see that?_ Sirius slunk back to his chair, crossed his arms yet again, and glared at the coffee table.

"That's why we're having this little meeting," Lily said calmly. "To figure out what they're expecting Sirius to do and then use that against them. If we're all ready to do that, then perhaps we should sit down and I can start the process." Ignoring everyone as if they were naturally going to do exactly as she asked, Lily turned towards him. "Sirius, what do you want to do?"

"Whatever I say, you're going to tell me not to do it," he muttered. He expected Lily to sigh or pout or act as moody as Remus had been acting. Instead, she just kept looking at him earnestly. When he realized he wouldn't get a reaction, he made a face. "I want to barge into her dorm, toss her over my shoulder, and apparate the two of us far, far away from here."

James gave Lily an 'I Told You So' look as he steered Peter towards an empty chair. "Okay, so that's one thing we won't be doing. What would be your second choice?"

"Go pick her up from school and take her back to my place where I can at least be sure she'd be behind every magical protection I could think up," Sirius answered. "And if _that_ isn't allowed, then I at least would want to stay with her at her place. Where are you going with this?"

Lily leaned back in her seat and looked towards the ceiling thoughtfully. "We have several goals we have to accomplish. We have to make sure Catherine is safe. We have to figure out what trap Regulus and Bellatrix have set and avoid it. And if we're lucky, we can find a way to use their trap against them."

"I don't want Catherine alone at that school at night," Sirius announced. "So if we don't come up with a plan in the next thirty minutes, I'm apparating over there and going with _my_ plan."

Lily held up a hand to silence him and turned to the other three members of the group. "Alright. You don't think the school is safe, so we would need to move Catherine without magic. What about one of us going over to the college and picking her up?"

"Um...won't Bellatrix be looking for one of us?" Peter asked. "She'll know what's up the moment me or Moony or Prongs appears at Catherine's door."

"Invisibility cloak?" James suggested.

"What part of 'no magic' do you think 'invisibility cloak' fits into, dear?" Lily asked.

"Polyjuice potion?" James tried again.

"It takes a month to brew," Lily replied.

"What if you call Catherine and ask her to meet you in a very public place?" Peter suggested. "Someplace Bellatrix wouldn't try to hurt you."

"That place doesn't exist," Sirius told him. "Look, we're running out of time and, so far, my plan is the only one I like."

"I have an idea," Remus said thoughtfully, "But you're going to hate it."

"I hated all the other plans. How can this one be any worse?" Sirius asked.

Remus visibly braced himself. "Break up with her. Look, I know what you're going to say, but hear me out. What are the Blacks really afraid of? It's that, at some point, you'll have a child with a Muggle girl. Catherine means nothing to them if there's no risk that you two will...you know. If you really care about her, you'll end things."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," James said. "He's not going to break up with the girl if he loves her. We'll find another way."

"We're running out of time," Sirius growled again. It came out more as a whine than he'd ever intended.

"If we're done exhausting things that won't work, then we're back at the plan of: one of us goes and gets her," Lily said. "And by 'one of us,' I mean me. Before you protest, it makes the most sense. She knows me, because we've double dated with you two before. I know how the Muggle world works and I can blend in better than any of you. The Blacks don't really know who I am, and if I dress like a college student, they'll never pick me out on campus. And if you're really worried, James can tag along under the invisibility cloak," at this, Lily looked at James, giving him a look that clearly said 'Are you happy now?' before continuing, "So there will be two of us there if Bellatrix does identify me. Meanwhile, you three can set up a safehouse and Sirius can lay low and not get himself killed. Once we get Catherine safely away from someplace where Death Eaters could grab her, Sirius tells her the truth and _she_ decides how involved in all this she wants to be - because in case you haven't realized it yet, most of your plans don't take her thoughts into consideration."

When no one spoke, Sirius turned to James. "What do you think?"

"I don't particularly like it, but I can't come up with a better idea that doesn't involve magic." He replied. "If it was me, I think I'd take Lily's suggestion."

Sirius rubbed at his temples, trying to think. It certainly wasn't what he'd do...which was probably the point. He still wasn't convinced storming the family homestead looking for a fight was a bad idea. Lily's plan was anything but flashy, and he certainly wouldn't get the satisfaction of hurting anyone with it. At the same time, it _was_ a Muggle plan, which meant his family was less likely to think of it. "So let's say we do go through with this," he said finally. "Where do we find a safehouse?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three:**

This was bad.

When Lily brought Catherine to the safe-house, he could tell she knew something was wrong. She just didn't know how wrong. While normal people didn't really appreciate it when you lied to them, they especially didn't like hearing that they were now on a hit list because of you. Add in the whole concept of magic and it was a situation prime for disaster. He'd expected hysterics, or at least tears mixed with yelling. He'd prepared himself for that.

What he got was far worse - total and absolute silence.

This...this was something he'd only ever seen once before, and that time was one of the worst moments of his life. Even then, Remus had at least looked at him, which was more than Catherine was doing right now. She just sat there, unmoving, her eyes fixed on the wooden floor. "Please say something." Sirius finally broke the silence. When she didn't react, he reached for her hand. "Cat..."

"Don't." She pulled away, finally looking up. "Just...don't." She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, returning her gaze to the floor. "Everyone in the other room? Lily and Peter and Reevus?"

"Yes."

"Your family? The nice ones?"

He shut his eyes. "Yes. Them, too. Ted's Muggle-born but..." Opening his eyes, he reached for her hand again. "Cat," seeing her eyes narrow, he corrected himself, "Catherine, please, listen, I wanted to tell you, I just didn't...it's not the easiest thing to tell someone. At first you were just this cute girl and I took you out and it wasn't...it was just casual, and by the time I knew that I wanted something more than dinner and a movie, I just...I didn't know how to tell you. How do you tell someone something like this?"

She jerked away from his again. "If all this hadn't happened, were you _ever_ going to tell me?"

Sirius sighed. "There's not an answer to that question that won't freak you out."

Before he was aware of what happened, she struck him. "Because you telling me your brother is trying to kill me doesn't freak me out?" Her voice rose as she jumped to her feet, her hands balled into fists. "Because watching you _turn into a bloody dog_ doesn't freak me out?" For a moment, he was sure she was about to hit him again. Instead, she rocked in place for several moments, before suddenly turning and running towards the door. There was a crash as she flung it open, and then he saw her silhouette freeze in the doorway. He didn't need to see into the next room to know his friends had been eavesdropping at the door and were now all gaping at her.

"So, uh," there was a slight pause and Sirius could almost hear James nervously messing up his hair, "I see Sirius told you."

"James?" Lily remarked. "Not helping."

"He...you...it..." Catherine stammered.

"I know." Lily stepped into view and put an arm around the other girl. Slowly, she began to lead Catherine into the brightly lit living room. "I grew up in a normal home. It was a shock to my family when we found out about all of this."

"Uh, guys, why don't we, uh, go over here and let the girls talk," James remarked. A moment later, he led Peter and Remus through the doorway and into the darkened den.

Remus paused to shut the door and the room fell into shadows once more. "_Lumos._"

"If this is the part where you all try to cheer me up, don't bother." Sirius covered his face with his hands as his friends approached. "I royally messed this one up."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you that turning into _Padfoot_ was the best way to tell your Muggle girlfriend that you're a wizard," James remarked, taking a seat beside him on the ottoman, "But on the plus side, she hasn't said she hates you and never wants to see you again."

"And Lily used to hate James, and she married him," Peter added helpfully, perching on a chair next to James. "So even if she _does_ say that, there's still hope."

"You guys don't understand. You didn't see her. She just...folded in on herself." Sirius shuddered. "She probably thinks I'm some demonic _thing_ lurking in the shadows."

"When in reality," Remus remarked lightly, "That would be me."

"Moony, you're not a demonic creature," Sirius corrected him automatically.

"Sorry. Dark half-breed is the politically correct terminology these days," Remus replied. "It's a joke. You're supposed to laugh." Turning serious, he knelt down so that he was at eye level with Sirius. "Look, I haven't had a lot of experience with the whole girlfriend thing, but on the two occasions I had to have the 'I Am A Werewolf' conversation, it didn't go this well. Actually, it went so horribly wrong, it makes this look like winning the House Cup. Catherine's actually letting Lily talk her down off the ledge. She probably doesn't realize it yet, but she's still open to accepting you for who you are, mate."

"I know if I was a Muggle and I found out that magic was real, it would probably be a shock to me, too," Peter chimed in, "But I'd come around once I was able to wrap my head around it."

'Of course, hopefully whoever was telling Wormtail about magic in this hypothetical world didn't change himself into a big, black dog," James snorted. "Of all the spells we know, why _did_ you choose the illegal scary one?"

"Would you believe she thought I was joking at first and it was the only spell I could come up with at the moment?" Sirius asked.

"_Wingardium Leviosa. Reparo. Lumos_ even." Remus began counting on his fingers. "Anything from the First Year textbooks?"

"See, there's the problem," Peter said, "You're assuming he _read_ the textbooks."

"When in reality," James continued, "You were the only one who actually opened them."

Despite his best efforts not to, Sirius felt a grin tug at his mouth. "How many times did we bug you at the last minute to help us with our homework?"

"Oh, it wasn't the homework that was annoying," Remus told him. "It was when none of you would study and then, at midnight the night before the test, you'd realize you had no idea what was on the syllabus - let alone the test - so you'd jump on my bed until I taught you the damn spells." He climbed to his feet and hopped onto a chair. "'Moony, wake up.'" He bounced on the chair, mimicking his friends in a whiny voice. "'Moony, is the test in potions or transfiguration?' 'Don't give me that look, Moony. You know I couldn't pay attention because Evans kept twirling her hair.'"

"Hey! That was one time!" James protested.

"Yeah, the other times it was 'Evans kept playing with her quill' and 'Evans looks so cute when she swings her legs back and forth' and 'You don't understand, Pads, Evans _smiled_ at me.'" Sirius remarked.

"Not to mention the fact that when I'd ask to borrow his notes, all I'd get were doodles of 'Lily Potter,' 'James & Lily Potter,' Lily's name doodled in hearts..." Remus continued.

"'Hey, Evans.'" Peter messed up his hair in an imitation of James, then pretended to swoon.

"I never did that!" James pointed at Peter.

"Yes you did!" Sirius exclaimed. "At least once a day!"

"Then there was the semester when you made us all sit at the front of the room in Care of Magical Creatures so you could sit next to her," Peter added.

"And the time you didn't speak to me for a week because I was assigned to work with her in potions and I wouldn't swap with you," Remus continued.

"Okay! Okay!" James held up his hands. "I give up! I was besotted with the girl since I was eleven!"

"We know." Sirius told him. "But we still love you, Prongsie."

"You guys?" Remus's face turned serious as he moved to sit on the chair he'd been jumping on, "I miss this."

"Me too," James admitted. "Sometimes I wish we could all go back to Hogwarts."

"Things were easier then," Sirius agreed, leaning against James "Our biggest problem was whether or not we'd get caught on our way back from the kitchens in the middle of the night. I'd give anything to have the problems I had when I was eleven."

"But we can't go back," Peter said softly.

Remus sighed. "I know." He paused, "But I would settle for us going back the way _we_ were."

"We're the same way we always are," Peter said, sounding confused.

"No we aren't." Sirius sat up. He sighed, looking from Remus to Peter. "We haven't been for awhile now, but - we can still fix it." He glanced at James, who nodded encouragingly, then back to the others. "I wanted to exclude you both from all of this. I - doubted you, and I shouldn't have. I know neither of you would ever sell me out to Regulus, but I let Voldemort's lies get in my head. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not wanting either of you here, and, Moony, I'm sorry for blowing up at you."

"I really was trying to pick a fight all afternoon," Remus shook his head. "It was a rough morning and...it doesn't matter. I came in looking to argue with all of you, and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry, too."

"Okay, let's make a pact." James put his hand in the center of the group. "We don't listen to Voldemort. We listen to each other. We trust each other. All four of us - we either all walk out of this war together, or we all go down fighting together. Agreed?"

Remus smiled, placing his hand on top of James's. "Agreed."

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius added his to the pile. "Me too."

"No, you three," Peter corrected, putting his hand on top of Sirius's. "Me four."

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs!" James crowed.

"Do I want to know?" Lily's voice asked from behind them. Sirius turned to watch her step inside their room. Lily shook her head, "You know what, don't answer that. I know that I don't want to know." She paused, then inclined her head back towards the living room. "Sirius? Catherine asked me if I could come get you. I think she's ready to talk now."

~*~


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Four:**

"So what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"

Despite himself, Sirius jumped. People should know better than to sneak up on other people in dark kitchens in the early hours of the morning. Spinning towards the sound, he glared at Lily. A dozen retorts - from scolding her for startling him to saying something inappropriately sexual to his best mate's wife - rose in his mind but died on his lips.

Lily gave him a small smile. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. James just relieved me on guard duty and I was hoping to find something in here to help me sleep before crashing out on the sofa." Placing the candle she was carrying on the table, she moved towards the refrigerator. "Remus said something about mixing warm milk with cocoa powder earlier and I haven't been able to get it out of my head."

"If you can, add a little peanut butter rum." Sirius returned to the cabinet he'd been searching through and finally located a plate. Setting it on the counter, he reached for the loaf of bread someone had procured at some point during the prior evening. "It'll help you sleep."

"That would require us having peanut butter rum," Lily pointed out. "I'm just happy we have milk." She set a pot on the stove and paused. "Where's Catherine?"

"Asleep." Sirius hesitated, then turned around and leaned against the counter. "Lils, I don't know what to do," he whispered.

"About what?"

"Catherine. This." He rubbed his hands over his face. "I mean, I can try to hawk her every moment of every day, but you and I both know that it isn't a long term solution. Plus I think she'd kill me if I tried. But I can't - we don't have any other way to make sure Regulus doesn't grab her and whisk her off to be tortured and killed, and you know it."

Silently, Lily prepared herself a mug of hot chocolate. Blowing on it, she settled herself at the table, then pushed out the chair opposite her with one foot. Taking that as his invitation to sit down, Sirius slid into the seat. Lily sipped at her hot chocolate carefully, her face pensive. Finally, she looked at him. "You're right. I've gone over every possible plan and there isn't a fool proof guaranteed way to keep her safe. There are some things that are safer than others - like a study abroad program - but there's no way to be sure. Look, Sirius, I know you don't trust people-"

"That's not true," Sirius interrupted. He trusted James with his life and James was people. Well, most of the time. At least all the times when he wasn't a stag.

Lily ignored him. "But we need to take this to Dumbledore. And before you go outside to consult with James, I already did and he agrees with me."

"You went over my head and talked to Prongs?" Sirius asked.

Lily set her mug on the table. "I know that you aren't likely to listen to me, but if James tells you something, you won't second guess it because you know he loves you and would die before letting anything harm you."

"James and I are not secretly in love with each other." Sirius scowled.

"I didn't say that," she picked up her mug again. "I said that he loves you. Love isn't restricted to the romantic variety." She paused, a rueful look on her face, "Though I have to admit that sometimes I get jealous of you, not because I see you as a romantic rival but because I know that you and James have a bond that James and I will never have."

"Lily, he's wanted you since he was eleven." Sirius told her. "Trust me, if he had to choose between you and our friendship, he'd choose you."

"No he wouldn't." Lily smiled at him above her mug. "And that's one of the things I love about him. If you or Remus or Peter were in serious danger, and James had to choose between dying for you and coming home safe and sound for me, he wouldn't hesitate before running off to die for any of you. And you know? I don't think I would love him if he wasn't like that. That's messed up, isn't it? I'm not sure what it says about me." She sipped at her hot chocolate again, a wistful expression on her face.

"You really do love him, don't you?" Sirius asked watching her closely.

"I married the guy," Lily rolled her eyes. "I think that's obvious."

Sirius shrugged, turning his eyes onto the table. "I don't think my parents ever really loved each other." He wasn't sure when, exactly, he'd figured that out. While his parents had always been pleasant to one another, there was distance there, even when he was little. For a long time, he hadn't known any different, but at some point it struck him that they should have had more affection for one another. During Christmas break his third year, he'd mentioned to Regulus that he was worried Mum and Dad would split up since they didn't love one another. They certainly weren't like his friends' parents. Regulus had just given him a look like he was crazy and explained that of course they didn't love one another, that love wasn't what was important - only making a match worthy of continuing the Black line. At thirteen, he'd been surprised at this revelation. Now, well, now he had ten galleons that said his parents were already looking for the perfect pure blood girl to marry Regulus and, when they found her, his brother wouldn't issue one complaint on the way to the altar so long as there weren't any Muggle-borns in his future wife's family tree. Sirius looked up from his glass and noticed Lily watching him, a sympathetic look on her face. "What?"

"Nothing." She glanced down. "Yes, I love James." She smiled slightly, "You know, there are these moments when I just look over at him and...I don't know how to describe it. It's, it's incredible and terrifying and amazing and hundreds of emotions all in one. And sometimes I can't quite believe how lucky I am. Some people, they go their whole lives searching for their soul mate and never finding them, and here I am, lucky enough to find mine as a kid." She finally looked up, a blush creeping across her face. "Sorry. Sometimes I just..."

"It's okay." He gave her a reassuring smile. "I lived with James for seven years, and he's been in love with you since the first time he saw you on the Hogwarts Express. He was quite obnoxious about it most of the time. It used to kill him thinking you..." His brain suddenly screamed a warning and he quickly shut his mouth.

"Thinking I what?" Lily asked.

"Uh, I promised I, uh," Sirius rubbed at the back of his head. "Look, there are some secrets the Marauders promised never to tell anyone. That's one of them."

"Thinking that I would run off and marry Severus?" Lily arched an eyebrow.

Sirius felt his face start to color. "Something like that."

"Don't worry. James told me. We have a no secrets policy." Lily kicked her feet onto an empty chair. "He knows every embarrassing skeleton in my closet, from how I used to doodle Remus's name on my notebooks in fifth year to the magical laws I broke last week."

"I still can't believe you had a crush on _Remus_. Out of all of us." Sirius shook his head. "I'm the handsome one. Peter's the funny one. James is the cool one. Remus is the smart one. Since when did girls go for the smart one?"

"Yes, well, _Remus_ didn't go around hexing everyone he passed in the hallway." Lily protested. "A lot of my friends secretly crushed on him at one point or another. You know, if we can teach him to keep his self-esteem away from the black hole it seems to wallow in, he'll make some girl very happy. Didn't he once have a thing for one of your cousins? Maybe we could hook them up."

"Too late. Narcissa's gone crazy like the rest of them and married Lucius Malfoy." Sirius made a face. "You probably don't remember him..."

"You mean the bloke you attacked first year when he called you a perfidious little git?" Lily asked, trying and failing to keep an obnoxious grin from her face.

Sirius ignored the warmth that flared up for a second time across his cheeks. That certainly hadn't been his finest moment. "Okay, so maybe you do." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, Remus never really liked her. I just liked to give him a hard time because he said she was pretty second year. I mean, could you really see Remus Lupin marrying one of my relatives? Not even Remus is that desperate."

"Come on, you have _some_ decent relatives," Lily pointed out.

"Andromeda's already married," Sirius protested. "And the rest of them are either little kids or insane."

"Is he talking about his family again?" Peter stumbled into the kitchen, yawning. "You guys, do you need me still or is it okay if I go home and shower before work? It's just people are going to ask questions if I show up in the same thing I wore yesterday..."

"It's okay, Wormie," Sirius gave him a tired smile. "We should be fine. Thanks for, well, for everything tonight."

"Sure, no problem." Peter yawned again. "That's what friends are for. Night Pads." He nodded at Lily. "Night Lils."

The door swung shut behind Peter and silence fell across the table. Lily nursed her hot chocolate, occasionally sipping from it as she stared at the window. Sirius turned his eyes towards the ceiling thoughtfully as he finished his own drink. He still hadn't solved the problem of how to protect Catherine. There really _wasn't_ a good solution. Maybe Remus was right. Maybe if he gave the Blacks what they wanted... "How do you do it?" Sirius broke the silence.

"Do what?" Lily asked, looking away from the window.

"Live with the constant fear that something will happen to James." He set his glass on the table. "And don't tell me you don't because you were just worrying."

"Guilty." She placed her own mug beside his with a sigh. "It isn't easy, but if we run away or if we stay out of things, well, Voldemort wins, doesn't he? We don't want to raise our children in Voldemort's world. We're fighting so that they can have normal lives with every opportunity." Lily's eyes took on that same maddeningly knowing look she wore earlier. "And yes, it hurts to love someone so much that you feel ill when they're five minutes late getting home because you're so sure that this time they weren't so lucky and they're lying dead somewhere with a Death Eater standing over them, but...I'd rather love James and live with the risk of him not coming in the door and feeling the complete loss, than to never know what it's like to care about someone like that." Lily finished her drink and set the mug on the table before fixing him with a look. "So whatever you do, don't listen to Remus."


	5. Chapter 5

**Part Five:**

"Are you sure you don't want to carry Wormtail around in your backpack?" Sirius asked helpfully, following Catherine up the stairs of the ancient academic building. "No one will notice him. He's small and can stay out of sight."

"Sirius!" Catherine grabbed his hand, stormed back down the stairs, and pulled him to the side of the building. Dropping her voice to a whisper, she hissed, "I am not going to carry a rat in my book-bag. That's gross."

"He's not a rat," Sirius corrected her sourly. "He's a wizard."

"Because _that_ makes it so much less disturbing," Catherine replied.

"Well then will you let me come along and sit in on class?" Sirius asked. Several students passed by, giving them a strange look on the way into the building. What? Hadn't anyone ever seen a lovers' quarrel before? He gave them a dirty look and waved at them.

"People will think it's odd that my boyfriend _who doesn't go to this school_ is coming to class with me," Catherine told him, grabbing his hand and pushing it down. "And what do I say when they ask why you're here? 'Oh, hi. This is my boyfriend Sirius Black. He's here so _evil wizards_ don't try to kill me during biology lecture?'"

Sirius sighed. "Look, I just want to make sure you're safe."

"I'm in a lecture hall with hundreds of other students. You'll be outside watching the door. What's going to happen to me?" She crossed her arms across her chest.

Sirius sighed again. "I just...you don't understand how Regulus is." His eyes scanned the grassy area Catherine called 'the quad.' For all he knew, Regulus and Bellatrix could be out there right now. His eyes fell on a young woman walking towards them, books in one hand and holding the harness of a large yellow dog with the other. "Hey! You could bring Padfoot with you."

"And Padfoot is...?" Catherine asked. Realization dawned a moment later. "Hell. No."

"Why not?" Sirius asked. He pointed at the girl he'd spotted. "She has a dog."

"She's _blind_! It's a service dog! You don't just bring a pet along to class." Catherine exploded. "Besides, every time I think of...it's just squicky and...look, don't you think it's bordering on bestiality that you're sometimes a dog, and we..." she moved her hands through the air. It took him a moment to figure out what she meant.

"Yes, well, when we," he mimicked her gesture, "I'm not a dog, so, no, it isn't. And would it really kill you to say 'make love'?"

"It does when my boyfriend's never used the word 'love' directed towards me." Catherine snapped. She shifted her bag to her other shoulder and started to walk towards the stairs.

"Cat, you know I care about you..." Sirius called after her.

She stopped, turned around, and marched back to him. "And while we're on the topic, Sirius, don't call me 'Cat' anymore, okay?"

He just stared at her. "What's wrong with 'Cat'?"

She stared back. "Do you _really_ have to ask?" She shook her head. "Look, I have to get to class. Just...don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, okay?"

Sirius watched her stalk into the building and rolled his eyes. Honestly, what did she think he was going to do, hand out brooms and start a pick-up game of Quidditch? She'd dated him for eight months without ever suspecting he was a wizard. He could clearly blend in with Muggles just fine. With a sigh, he settled down on the grass to wait.

If he was honest with himself, he knew this row had been coming and he didn't really blame Catherine for being angry with him. She didn't ask for any of this. Besides, magic was probably hard enough for Muggles to comprehend without the added bonus of having Death Eaters after them. Then again, it wasn't unheard of for wizards and Muggles to live happily ever after. Who was that girl from school who married a Muggle? The Irish girl three years ahead of them. Both he and Remus had crushed on her during Fourth Year. He couldn't remember. But her husband must have come around since he married her. And Sirius didn't have a problem with the whole Muggle lifestyle. It was rather fascinating, actually. Electricity seemed like a nice addition to life. Why didn't wizards use it? And baseboard heat was a lot easier than building a fire when you were cold...

There was a popping noise to his left and he quickly spun towards it. Nothing had changed - the quad was just as abandoned as it had been thirty seconds ago. Sirius squinted uneasily in the direction of the sound. It certainly sounded like someone apparating, but if someone had, they should have been standing right over there... _Maybe you imagined it?_ Sirius pushed his hair out of his eyes and leaned against the building again. How long were classes in Muggle schools? And why did Muggles have to go to more school after they finished school, anyway? That just seemed odd. He made a mental note to ask Lily.

"So, how is guard duty?" A voice murmured low in his left ear.

Sirius jumped. He glanced to the left, saw nothing, and rolled his eyes. "You aren't funny, Prongs."

"You see anyone watching?" James asked.

Sirius stood and scanned the quad. Everything was quiet. He sat back down beside James. "You're good."

James pulled his invisibility cloak from his head. "Lily and I went to talk to Dumbledore. He's going to see what he can work out. In the meantime, us hawking Catherine is probably the safest bet."

"Oh, goody, I see another row in my future." Sirius growled. "You know, before today, the only thing we ever had tension about was the fact that I don't use the L-word. This whole wizard thing has just complicated everything."

"The L-word?" James asked as he began folding the cloak. "I trust you don't mean 'London.' That would be pretty hard to not use. 'So, why don't we go to downtown that-city-where-we-live?' 'That-big-city-where-we-live is so pretty this time of year.'"

"Can it, Prongs." Sirius leaned against the building.

"Mate, I'm not telling you what to do," James remarked, shoving the cloak into the front of his sweatshirt, "But if I was Catherine, I'd have to be wondering if it was worth it to be stalked by Regulus when you don't even love me. I mean, no offense, but there's no way you're that good in bed. There has to be more than sex in it for her."

"Prongs, don't take this the wrong way, but you're hardly a relationship expert. You've been in love with your wife since before puberty." Sirius scowled.

"I'm just saying." James shrugged, then changed the subject. "Did you remember you and the Prewetts were supposed to, err, _investigate_ Mr. Avery's office after he leaves for the day?"

Sirius groaned. "No. That's tonight, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I ran into Gideon and he sent a message along for you." James held out an envelope.

Sirius took it, then froze. Turning, he looked at James. "Prongs!" He breathed. "I know what they're planning!"

James blinked. "Huh?"

Sirius jumped to his feet in excitement. It was so bloody simple. They were idiots! "Prongs, there _is_ a spy, but it isn't one of us! Oh! How didn't I see it before?"

"Again, I say 'huh?'" James remarked. "Explain."

"This has never been about me and Catherine. Lily was right. You-Know-Who doesn't give a damn about me. Don't you see?" Sirius waved the envelope through the air. "The spy told You-Know-Who that Fabian, Gideon, and I are supposed to go to old Avery's tonight. _That_ is the trap. They're planning on killing all of us. And somehow, he knew that if Catherine was in trouble, I'd stay behind to help her."

"Which would make sense," James said, "Except You-Know-Who would rather have three of us dead than two of us."

"Not Voldemort. Regulus!" Sirius slapped his hand against the envelope. "Voldemort doesn't know Regulus warned me. Remember? Lily said it was a warning."

"Okay, slow down, I'm still trying to follow you." James put a hand on either side of his head and shook it quickly. Dropping his hands, he looked up at Sirius. "What I _think_ you're saying is that the spy tipped You-Know-Who off that the three of you were going to go down to Avery's tonight. You-Know-Who sets a trap to kill all three of you. Regulus finds out, and threatens your girlfriend knowing that you'd bail on the Order to protect her. Do you know how much is wrong with that theory?"

"Name one thing that's wrong with it," Sirius challenged.

"Um, okay," James said, "How about the fact that _Regulus wants to kill you_?"

Sirius shook his head. "I'm still on their list of potential recruits. Prongs, they approached me about joining them less than two months ago. That's what spawned all those rumors about me being a Death Eater spy. Regulus probably thinks there's still hope for me. He always was obnoxiously idealistic."

"So why didn't Regulus just say 'Sirius, it's a trap. Don't go'?" James asked.

"He was being watched? He knew I wouldn't believe him? He's like Snape and thinks he has to be creepy about everything?" Sirius suggested.

"I don't know..." James said slowly. "Look, Padfoot, I know," he paused, "I know you want to believe there's something redeemable about your brother, but that's pretty far fetched."

"You're the only brother I have, Prongs." Sirius said quickly as he returned to his seat.

"What, Moony and Wormtail don't count?" James asked.

"They're friends." Sirius shrugged. "You know we're different."

The main door to the building banged open against the brick wall and Sirius looked up. Students began wandering into the quad, some leisurely stopping to talk with friends while others hurried to their next class. Catherine appeared in the flow a few minutes later and she caught his eye. Her gaze fell on James and she raised an eyebrow questioningly. Sirius turned back to James. "Look, could you at least track the Prewetts down and tell them what I think? It wouldn't kill us to reschedule this little trip for another night, but it might kill us if we don't."

"Fine," James agreed as Catherine joined them. "I think you're wrong, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"About what?" Catherine asked nervously.

"Nothing." Sirius gave her a smile. "Just talking about what James is going to get Lily for their anniversary."


	6. Chapter 6

**Part Six**

Some people just had a death wish, Sirius decided as he slunk along the darkened alley. Apparently, Gideon and Fabian Prewett were among 'some people.' Of course, the fact that he'd come along on this little odyssey didn't say much for him, either.

At least, Sirius comforted himself, Moony and Wormtail were taking care of Catherine. When he'd told her he had to go fight 'the evil wizards,' Remus had volunteered to take her along with him to a poetry reading. Sirius didn't know why anyone would ever want to go to a poetry reading, but Catherine and Peter both seemed to think it sounded like fun. Since it was unlikely that Regulus would try to kill Catherine in a public place squeezed between two Marauders, Sirius couldn't come up with a good reason why not (other than the thought that two hours of poetry would cause him to die in and of itself).

Which was why his girlfriend was out having fun with his friends, while he was standing beside the private office of Mr. Avery. "I still don't think this is a good idea," Sirius remarked.

"Well, if it _is_ a trap," Fabian remarked, "It's a damn good one. I can't make out anyone in there, and we've scouted the place thoroughly."

"Although they may be down the street just waiting to see if anyone triggers the magical trip wire wrapped around the place," Gideon finished.

"Magical trip wire?" Sirius frowned.

"There's a spell on the building that will react to magic," Gideon explained. "Of course, there's nothing stopping us from breaking in the Muggle way." He held up a small tool kit with a grin. "Looks like the fire escape to the window is the most promising."

"You would think," Fabian remarked as he began to climb up the creaky metal structure, "That they'd think of these little loopholes, but they're always missing them." When he reached the landing, he leaned over the rail and caught the tool kit Gideon tossed up to him.

"I get the impression you've done this before," Sirius commented.

"This is our..." Gideon paused to think, "Sixth successful time doing this. Seventh attempt. The first time we didn't know about the little trip wire trick."

"Got it," Fabian called softly from the fire escape. Sirius looked up in time to see him disappear through a now-open window.

"After you," Gideon waved at the fire escape.

Hoisting himself up the rickety metal complex wasn't nearly as hard as he'd feared. The way he used to climb out his bedroom window and pull himself onto the roof of his parents' house had been much more harrowing. Of course, the fact that he'd almost fallen off the roof once or twice probably had a lot to do with that. Sirius followed Fabian's route to the window and slid into the office.

"Whatever you do," Fabian said softly, "Do not use _lumos_."

"So no magic inside either, then?" Sirius asked.

"'Fraid not. We're stuck with these little Muggle torch things." Fabian waved a flashlight. "Rather remarkable things, really."

"Sirius, take the filing cabinets," Gideon whispered as he crawled through the window. "I'll take the credenza. Fabian, you've got the desk."

"It's locked," Fabian reported. "I'm working on it right now."

The filing cabinets were woefully empty. The bottom drawer contained nothing but several bottles of firewhisky and two crystal glasses. The top drawer was empty except for a single file. Flipping it open, Sirius was greeted with a market report on the exchange rates of wizarding money. "Nothing helpful here," he reported.

"Aha!" Fabian breathed as a click sounded from the desk. Carefully, he slid the drawer open. "Guys, look at this."

Sirius and Gideon moved to peer over his shoulder. Sirius frowned. "It's a desk drawer filled with parchment and quills."

"Look at the depth. Seems awful shallow, doesn't it?" Fabian lifted the parchment from the drawer. Lowering his head to be level with the desk, he tapped lightly on the bottom of the drawer, nodded to himself, and then produced a metal tool from his pocket. Carefully, he stuck it in the crack between the side and bottom of the drawer. There was a soft scraping sound, and then the bottom of the drawer began to rise. With a grin, Fabian slid his fingers underneath the thin board and pulled it free. "Well, well. What do we have here?"

Sirius watched as Fabian withdrew another stack of parchment. The top page contained a list of names, many of which were familiar. "What _is_ that?"

"Donation registry." Gideon said softly. "Look, there's a monetary amount beside each name."

It didn't take long to find the names of various members of his family on the list. Beside each name was a sizeable amount. Sirius resisted the urge to spit on the paper. "What's the total look like?"

"Far more gold than we all make in a year combined," Fabian announced. He passed the top sheet to Gideon for closer study and turned his eyes to the next one. "And this looks like their recruitment register. Oh, look, Gid. We made the cut." He snickered.

"Wonder when we'll get to have our little sit-down with the wizarding world's best and brightest?" Gideon asked sarcastically.

"Maybe we should leave our availabilities behind," Fabian suggested. "It'll save them the trouble of stalking us to try to catch us alone in some dark alley."

"Aw, but I _like_ being stalked," Gideon replied. "Hey, now this is interesting."

"What is?" Sirius glanced over at him.

"Isn't Lily Potter Muggle-born?" He asked. When Sirius nodded, Gideon pointed over Fabian's shoulder at the list. "She's among the potential recruits."

Sirius looked to where Gideon's finger rested. Sure enough, Lily's name was written in near-perfect cursive lettering. Why would pure-blood supremacists want to recruit a woman who represented everything they hated? Sure, Lily was smart, but to a Death Eater, she'd have to be Public Enemy Number One. Sirius let his eyes drift over the list. Beside Lily's name were several strange characters. Actually, now that he was looking at the list, he noticed some of the characters displayed beside other names as well. "What do you think those symbols mean?" Sirius asked.

"Not sure." Gideon took the parchment from Fabian and squinted at it. "I'll copy them down and see if Dumbledore recognizes any of them."

Fabian whistled, causing the others to look back at him. "We have a problem." He held up the next sheet of parchment.

Sirius took it from his hand and stared, a nauseous feeling washing over him. Written in careful penmanship was a list of every last member of the Order. Underneath each name were addresses, identities of family members, occupations... "How...?"

Fabian set his mouth in a hard line. "How do you think? Either they have an intelligence system that puts every other system in the world to shame or they've got a man on the inside."

"So there is a spy," Sirius said softly. "This is a disaster."

"Not necessarily. We now _know_ there's a spy, but they don't know that we know. They just think we suspect. That's useful." Fabian held out his hand. "Who has the camera?" Gideon handed it to him and Fabian quickly went to work photographing the various pieces of parchment. When he was finished, he passed the camera back to his brother and began replacing the parchment in the drawer.

"I don't like this," Gideon said softly.

"We'll figure it out." Fabian shrugged. "I have a short list of candidates."

"I'm sure I'm on a lot of people's short list," Sirius said darkly. He could easily foresee his exclusion in a lot of important events in the upcoming months. People wouldn't want a Black around sensitive information, what with blood being thicker than water and all that.

"If you were on our short list," Fabian said, as he started carefully replacing the contents of the drawer, "You wouldn't be here tonight. I'm not having someone watch my back that I can't trust."

He knew he liked the Prewetts. Sirius tried to keep the smile off his face. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. You aren't going to like any of the names on my short list." Fabian picked up the fake drawer bottom and began sliding it back into place. Carefully, he tapped it back into its grooves.

He had a sinking suspicion he knew where this was going. They suspected one of the other Marauders, most likely Remus. Remus _was_ the obvious choice. If they'd had this conversation yesterday, he would have agreed with them. "If you think it's one of my friends," he said coolly, "Then I suggest you re-evaluate your selection criteria."

"Uh, guys?" Gideon quickly interrupted the conversation. "I'd love to discuss conspiracy theories with you all night, but could we leave the Death Eater Accounting Office first? We really don't want to be caught in here."

"Right." Fabian waved towards the window. "You two go on ahead. I'll finish up and join you in a minute."

Glowering, Sirius opened the window and leaned into the alleyway. Everything was still silent. He pushed himself over the sill and grabbed the nearest railing for the fire escape with both hands before climbing down to the street below. He moved to the front of the alley and checked the main street. Nothing of interest. It looked like no one noticed they'd let themselves into Avery's office.

And it looked like his theory had been dead wrong.

So they were back at square one. He sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. Maybe Lily had been wrong. While it rarely happened, she did misread the situation sometimes. James made more sense, anyway. People who want you dead usually don't warn you when someone is trying to kill you.

"Sorry about that." Gideon joined him at the end of the alleyway. "I told him not to bring all that stuff up with you."

"He used to think there wasn't a spy," Sirius said. He could hear the tension in his voice.

"Yeah, well, we got some information earlier today that made us re-evaluate all that." Gideon produced his wand from his back pocket and glanced towards the fire escape where his brother was now climbing down to join them.

"Well, you've both broached the topic." Sirius retorted. "Are you going to be secretive about who you want to accuse or are you just going to come out and say it?"

"We've narrowed it down to the five of you," Fabian told him. "And once you were eliminated-"

"Why _was_ I eliminated? I'm a Black. My family pounds that pure-blood nonsense into the heads of their children from birth." Sirius crossed his arms. "If we're being logical here, I'd be at the top of the list."

"Truthfully, the whole thing with you dating a Muggle kinda removed you from consideration as a prime suspect," Gideon told him. "No one who's sympathetic to You-Know-Who's cause is going to be in love with a Muggle. It doesn't add up."

Sirius looked over at him, his eyes narrowing. "Who told you about that?"

Gideon held up both hands in a placating manner. "Dumbledore told us how your brother threatened to kill her and asked us to help with a temporary protective detail. We're going to hang around the campus for the week and pretend to be Muggle university students. No one else in the Order knows."

Sirius glared at them. This was why he told James that they should handle it themselves. There were quickly becoming too many players in this drama. "Fine. So you don't think a Death Eater would be involved with a Muggle. That removes me from consideration."

Fabian and Gideon exchanged looks. Gideon shook his head. "You started this. You finish it."

Fabian sighed. "Look, Sirius, I don't quite know how to say this, and I _know_ you don't want to hear this, but the spy has to be one of your friends."

"You think it's Remus," he said resignedly. "I know. I was convinced it was Remus, too, but it isn't. Look, I know he's secretive and doesn't really trust people - and he has good reasons - but he's so thankful to have real friends, he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that. And Pete's pretty much the same way. Neither of them would sell us out."

"Actually," Fabian looked like he was bracing himself. "We think it might be Potter."


	7. Chapter 7

**Part Seven**:

Lily answered the door to his insistent pounding. She took one look at him and her hand flew to her mouth. "Merlin, what happened?"

"I just punched Fabian Prewett." Sirius growled. "Where's James?"

"You _what_?" Lily gawked at him. "What did he _do_?"

"I'm done with the Order!" Sirius fumed. "I refuse to be part of an organization that….that…" He was vaguely aware that he was still shaking with anger. "_Where's James?_"

"He, he's sleeping," Lily said, still shocked.

Sirius pushed past her. "PRONGS!"

There was a pounding on the stairs and James appeared wearing nothing more than a pair of sleep pants and his glasses. He pointed his wand at the door. "Are we under attack?"

"I don't think so," Lily said softly from where she still stood in the doorway. She glanced out into the street, then shut the door. Leaning against it, she looked up at her husband. "Sirius just attacked an Order member."

James blinked, lowering his wand. "What? _Why_?"

"He said…" Sirius continued to shake in anger, "He accused you of being a Death Eater."

James looked at him a minute, then threw back his head and laughed. After a minute, he had to grab the railing to steady himself, before finally falling onto the stair behind him, holding his stomach, and gasping for breath.

"It's not funny, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yes," James forced out between gasps. "Yes, it is." He put his head on the stairs and continued to laugh. After several moments, he wiped the tears from his eyes and straightened up. "_How_ did anyone come up with that one? This theory has to be better than the one with Lily and Snivellus. Wait, let me guess. I went off the deep end and decided that I was going to worship Voldemort and offer up my Muggle-born wife as a human sacrifice. Or maybe _I'm_ the one who is secretly in love with Snivellus. Oh! Or I'm not really me at all, but my evil twin, who killed off the real me and took my place."

"I didn't wait to hear the theory," Sirius told him angrily. He batted away Lily's hand as she tried to grab his face.

"Sirius, hold still." Lily successfully managed to keep him still and forced his head to tilt up towards the light. "You split your lip."

"Fabian looks worse," he told her proudly.

Lily sighed. "James?"

"Go get some ice. I'll talk to him." James pulled himself to his feet. "Padfoot, I know you're furious, and I'm really very touched that you stood up for me, but it was only a matter of time until someone threw my name into the ring. I mean, I heard the one about you, and the one about Lily, and there's one going around about Moony because he's so quiet and secretive. I can kind of see how that one started because he _is_ hiding something, it's just not what everyone thinks. Reality is, everyone's got _something_ about them that makes them a Death Eater candidate. Sooner or later someone was going to suspect me." He gestured towards the shabby furniture in the living room.

"There's absolutely no logical reasoning that supports the idea of James Potter the Death Eater." Sirius pouted, falling onto the sofa.

"Sure there is." James perched on the edge of a chair. "I'm a pure blood. I spent most of my Hogwarts career bullying kids who were weaker than me. Sound like anyone you know?"

"James, you weren't a bully," Sirius told him. James had always been his most loyal friend. It was James who opened his home to him when he had no place to go, James who risked his own neck to fix his greatest mistake, James who sat beside him in silent support as he worked through every painful moment of his life.

"Yes I was," James replied solemnly. "It's not something I'm proud of, and if I could go back and do things differently I would, but it is what it is. Although I've grown up, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to link the Hogwarts James Potter with people like the Malfoys and the Lestranges."

The kitchen door swung open and Lily appeared with a towel. "Here. Hold that on your lip. It'll help with the swelling." She passed him the makeshift ice pack and took a seat on the arm of James's chair. As Sirius obediently placed the towel on his lip, Lily turned to her husband. "Everything calm now?"

"Yeah. Sirius is going to apologize to Fabian in the morning," James replied.

"Like hell I am," Sirius growled.

Before James had a chance to respond, the front door opened, admitting a jubilant Remus and Catherine, both singing off key. "'I have my books, and my poetry to protect me…'" On the sight of the group clustered in the living room, they fell silent, and Remus shot them a questioning look.

Peter shuffled inside behind them, shutting the door. "Moony, mate, you're the worst singer I've ever heard…" he trailed off. "Are we interrupting something?"

"Are you _bleeding_?" Catherine asked, concerned.

"Cat, I'm fine. I just got into a fight with a stupid git," Sirius pointed at James, "Who I am _not_ apologizing to."

James looked past him to Remus and Peter. "Apparently Fabian Prewett thinks I'm the spy." He explained. "Padfoot felt it necessary to defend my honor."

"You got into a fight with Fabian?" Peter looked at him like he was crazy. "In what world did that seem like a good idea? We're supposed to be on the same side."

"I don't know whose side Fabian is on," Sirius growled. "I'm on James's."

"Please tell me you aren't thinking of starting a rumor that _Fabian Prewett_ is a Death Eater," Remus groaned.

Sirius glanced over at him. He hadn't thought of that one. That would serve Fabian right. Let him see what it was like to have everyone think you were conspiring with Voldemort. It was perfect justice. "Moony, I love you."

"Sorry, mate, I just want to be friends. It's not you. It's me." Remus replied.

"Although that does explain why he's dating a female Moony," Peter joked, jerking a thumb in Catherine's direction as he walked past them and joined the group in the living room. "Trust me. I just spent the whole evening with them. When you're trying to ignore how painful poetry readings are, you notice these things."

"I could have told you that, mate," James said.

Sirius ignored them. "I am not apologizing," he repeated. "Give me one good reason that I should. And 'because it's for the good of the Order' isn't a good reason."

James pushed his glasses up his nose, an earnest look on his face. "Please, Padfoot. I'm not asking you to understand, but it's really important to me. Please."

He thought about telling James that no amount of pleading would make him apologize, but they both knew that he'd do whatever James asked. He couldn't say 'no' to his best friend. Stupid friendship. Sirius crossed his arms across his chest. "Fine. I don't have to like it, though."

"Thank you." James stood. "And now if you'll all excuse me, it's cold and I want to go find a shirt."

"And then come back downstairs. I have to tell you what happened to Moony on the way to the reading. It's hilarious," Peter called after him. He stood and began making his way towards the kitchen.

"Oh, goody!" Lily beamed, climbing to her feet and following Peter. "I love your Remus stories. You know, I've missed this Peter. You seem happier than you have in a while. The poetry reading must not have been that bad."

"Nah, it wasn't the poetry reading. I just decided to take my life back," Peter remarked. The kitchen door swung shut behind them, cutting off Lily's response. A moment later, her laughter carried into the living room.

"If you'll excuse me for just a minute," Remus moved towards the kitchen, "I need to go protect my reputation."

"Good luck with that," Catherine called after him. She hesitated, then took a seat on the couch. "Sirius?"

"Yeah?" He didn't look up from where he was glaring at the coffee table.

"About earlier? I'm sorry." She held out a bag. "Truce?"

Earlier? He had no idea what she was talking about. He frowned, taking the bag she offered and pulling free a 78 Chateau Margaux. He looked over at her. "You hate French wines."

"You don't." She sighed. "I couldn't quite figure out how to say 'Sorry for yelling at you. I was just really scared and I didn't mean it and I'm glad you could trust me enough with your secret.' Remus suggested a peace offering. He helped pick it out. He said that was a particularly good year for that winery and that you'd like it."

Sirius studied the label, feeling a stupid smile tugging at his mouth. She'd gotten him a make-up present. It was cute, in that adorable girl way.

"All this wizard stuff is a little overwhelming," Catherine continued when he didn't speak, "But it's a part of you. I just wanted you to know that, well, that I love you, and that I'm okay with who you _really_ are."

He didn't know how to respond to that. Had someone asked him what he honestly thought would happen to them this afternoon, he would have predicted she would end things by the weekend. There'd been a part of him that was just waiting for the other shoe to drop all day. He certainly hadn't anticipated _this_. Feeling far too much like a thirteen year old whose first crush just agreed to hold his hand between classes, he settled on, "Thanks." Sirius set the wine on the coffee table before holding out his hand to her. Feeling her fingers slide into his, he tugged her towards him and kissed her.

"Does that mean we're good?" She asked softly.

"We're good." He kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her and pushing her back on the couch.

From the direction of the stairs, someone cleared their throat. When neither of them acknowledged the newcomer, James's voice remarked, "Get a room."

Sirius didn't bother to look over at his friend. "Go away, Prongs."

~


	8. Chapter 8

**Part Eight**

Catherine was slowly going crazy.

He'd known all along that hawking her wouldn't work out well, but not even Lily could think of a viable alternative. At least they weren't cooped up in the little safe-house anymore. After much discussion, he reluctantly admitted that the safe-house was really no safer than his own home – although he did set Remus loose on his place to make it as magically impenetrable as possible – and that he didn't need his friends to move in with him. Ironically James and Lily were even more thrilled than Catherine to no longer be living in an only-slightly-larger version of the Hogwarts boys' dorm, complete with all of James's former roommates.

Which was how he had somehow managed to go from "casual dating" to "serious relationship" to "living together" in less than a year. James especially enjoyed ribbing him with snide remarks about how he'd be the next poor bloke shuffled off down the aisle. Sirius told James that he could take his snide remarks and shove them where the sun didn't shine. Nineteen was too young to be married. Besides the "living together" wasn't intended to be the sort of serious relationship step that James made it out to be. Catherine was only living with him because it was safer that way, even if he _did_like the thought of the two of them under the same roof. In fact, things would have been rather wonderful if Catherine wasn't starting to get annoyed at having to have an escort every time she left the house.

To be fair, their little guard service was really only the tip of the iceberg. While that would have been grating on anyone, the fact that Catherine's roommate told Catherine's mum that Catherine moved out of the dorm to 'live in sin' with her boyfriend had created the type of family drama Sirius had, until then, believed only possible from the Blacks.

Sirius had long been well aware that Catherine's clean-cut family did not approve of him. When he first met them, her father had pulled him aside and made it quite clear that Sirius was not the type of man Catherine was supposed to marry. Apparently, wearing one's hair long, owning a motorbike, and not having a degree from Oxford or Cambridge were all signs that one's life was going nowhere fast. That Catherine was now living with him had set off quite the firestorm. Her parents' wrath only abated when Catherine's younger brother decided he wanted to be the family rebel and announced that _he_purchased a motorbike by dramatically riding it down the street and parking it in his father's front yard on Sunday as the neighbors were returning from church. Catherine told her brother he was her hero. Sirius told Catherine he was jealous; Regulus would never have bought a motorbike in a show of solidarity.

"Prongs's birthday is in a couple of days," Remus's voice cut through his thoughts as they walked through the center of campus. "He thinks we're throwing him a surprise party."

"I _told_him we weren't throwing him a party this year," Sirius insisted. "Every year, we try to surprise him, and every year, he not only figures it out, but he gives us a list of instructions on what to do. It isn't a surprise party if you're helping to plan it. Besides, he'll insist on inviting Fabian and I'm still mad at him."

"You just spent the afternoon with him," Remus pointed out.

Sirius made a face. "Yes, well, that was Order business. Besides, we couldn't actually go through with our plans. Lucius came back from his board meeting early so we had to call it off." He paused, "How come you keep getting the cushy assignments and I keep getting the felonious ones?"

"There's nothing 'cushy' about translating hundreds of pages of dark magic spells written in ancient runes," Remus replied. "Trust me, I'd rather be breaking into Death Eaters' homes with the Prewetts. Besides, if you had paid attention in ancient runes, you could be on translation duty, too. It's not my fault I used my textbook as something other than a paperweight."

"I used my textbook for something other than a paperweight," Sirius protested.

"I'm sorry. You're right." Remus nodded sagely. "I had forgotten that you also used it to keep your dresser from rocking on the uneven floor in the dorm." He smirked, then changed the subject as they came to a stop outside the biology building. "So what _are_we going to do about Prongs's birthday?"

"We could pretend that we forgot," Sirius suggested, "And then kidnap him and take him to the bar."

"And that's different from a surprise party how?" Remus asked, pulling a watch from his pocket.

"Because he'd actually be surprised," Sirius explained.

Remus made a noncommittal noise as he returned his watch to the pocket of his jacket. "Catherine's lab lets out at six, right?"

"Yeah, but it's always late." Sirius took a seat on the low, stone wall outside the building. "Well, _she's_always late. I get the impression she's not very good at lab." He wasn't quite sure what 'lab' was, but it was most certainly the bane of Catherine's existence. If he'd been stuck in a class he hated for five hours, it would probably be the bane of his life, too. Sirius tried to imagine what it would be like to have to sit through five straight hours of History of Magic and shuddered. The only thing that had made one hour of that class bearable had been the fact that he'd sat next to James and they'd passed notes the entire time. "What time is it?"

"Five of." Remus hopped onto the wall beside him. Clearly amused, he asked, "So Catherine finally managed to convince you that you didn't have to sit outside the building?"

"Yeah. It's not like Regulus is going to go into a classroom with all those witnesses and kidnap her. Not even Regulus is that stupid. So, Peter used his lunch break to drop her off at lab since I was with the Prewetts, and Prongs was supposed to pick her up, but when I got done early, I told him we'd do it." Sirius paused. "How painful is poetry?"

"I enjoy it. Never could write it myself, but I enjoy experiencing how others express their questions, emotions, and experiences through their word and meter decisions." Remus looked even more amused. "You aren't thinking of writing some, are you?"

"No!" Sirius held up both hands. "Absolutely not. I just, I was thinking that maybe I could try suffering through a night of poetry for Catherine. We have one of those anniversary things coming up and..." He felt himself redden as Remus started to laugh. "You know, Moony, if it was a bad idea, you could have just said so," Sirius said sourly.

"No. That's not it." Remus calmed down. "I just…I never thought I'd see _Sirius Black_take his girlfriend to listen to poetry for an anniversary present. Oh, all those girls who were hopelessly in love with you during school are going to be devastated."

"First of all, girls weren't lining up to date me during school," Sirius said.

"I'm sorry? Did we go to the same school?" Remus interrupted.

"And second of all," Sirius ignored him, "There's this little art gallery opening up, and the artist is going to talk about his paintings and read his poetry and I just thought that Cat likes poetry and she really wishes she could study about art and she might enjoy it. I took James to a Quidditch game to celebrate him and Lily buying that house in Godric's Hollow. How is that different?"

"Because you like Quidditch and you hate poetry," Remus told him, matter of factly as the door to the building opened. "So I take it this is a surprise and I'm not supposed to tell Catherine."

"It's a surprise," Sirius confirmed, "And by 'surprise' I mean I haven't decided whether or not I'm actually going to go through with it." He saw Catherine's roommate come out of the building and start towards them. He groaned, then leaned towards Remus, "Wonderful. I swear she hates me, too." Forcing a smile, he straightened up and managed to get out, "Hello, Jill."

She gave him confused look. "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"

Sirius blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jill shifted her backpack. "Bobby Jefferson came in to class late, oh, it had to have been around one thirty, and said that some guy was outside and asked him to deliver a letter to Catherine. She read it, and started freaking out. She told the Professor that you were in the hospital and she needed to leave."

The world stopped spinning. Sirius felt the blood drain from his face as he stared at Jill. "What?"

xxxxx

The front door to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place slammed against the wall as he stormed inside. "REGULUS!" He was going to kill his brother. He was going to kill them all.

Without thinking, Sirius began pounding up the stairs. He was only vaguely aware that the house elf croaked out a surprised "Master Sirius?" as he stormed past it on the third floor landing and that he knocked over a family heirloom on the fourth. What time had Catherine left school? Was it right at one thirty? That was over five hours ago….

Reaching the top floor, he yanked at the handle to Regulus's door. It didn't budge. Throwing his shoulder against the door, Sirius forced his way inside. A quick glance around made it clear that Regulus hadn't been in the room all day. Where would he have taken her?

Tearing back out of the room, he started back down the stairs. The pantry in the kitchen was an excellent place to stash a hostage. As he rounded one of the landings, he noticed movement in a nearby room and spun towards it, wand drawn.

His father stood in the doorway to his library, shock written across his face. "Sirius?"

Without thinking, he pointed his wand dangerously in his father's direction. "Where is she?"

Slowly, his father raised both hands. "Your mother? It's Wednesday, Sirius." Despite the surprise on his face, his voice was calm and even. "She always has garden club on Wednesday. What's this about?"

"Not Mum. Catherine." Sirius gestured furiously with his wand. "Regulus has her. Tell me where he took her!"

"I don't know who Catherine is. Regulus is at a meeting of the Wizarding Cultural Board. He's been acting in my stead there for the past two months." His father's eyes glanced at the wand shaking in Sirius's hand. "Please put that down, Son. If you're in some sort of trouble…"

Sirius started to laugh. "Trouble? You think I'm in _trouble_?"

"SIRIUS!"

He took his eyes off his father long enough to see Remus charging up the stairs towards the landing. Sirius turned back to his father. The older man hadn't moved, and for a moment, Sirius was struck with how frail he looked. His skin was a sickly shade and his eyes had a sunken look to them…

And then Remus shoved his arm down and spun him around. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I…" Sirius couldn't really answer. What _was_he doing? "I'm trying…Moony, he's gone. He took her and he's torturing her and I have to stop him."

"Hexing your father isn't going to keep your brother from killing your girlfriend," Remus snapped.

"Regulus wouldn't kill anyone," his father said, a touch of anger in his voice.

"_Death_ Eater, Dad!" Sirius whirled on him. "What do you _think_they're doing, having a sing-song?"

His father's eyes darted away for a moment. He knew. He knew what Regulus was, what he did with his spare time.

"Where's Regulus?" Sirius asked again.

"I don't know," his father sighed. "He left at eleven this morning and told me he was going to handle some business and then go straight to the board meeting. He hasn't been back since."

"Come on, Sirius." Remus tugged at his arm. "Catherine's not here. Regulus hasn't been back since this morning. There's nothing here. Come on."

In a daze, Sirius let Remus lead him down the stairs. At the bottom, he glanced back towards the landing. His father hadn't moved from the doorway to the library. Sirius's eyes met his father's, and he felt a pang run through him as Remus pulled him out to the street.

The door slammed shut behind them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part Nine:**

It was like waking up from a dream that didn't quite make sense. There were images and voices – none of which were familiar – and the sensation of coldness. Everything was freezing, like a stone floor in the winter when the heat had gone out…or a tomb.

Catherine O'Neal remained as still as possible and forced her breathing to remain slow and steady. Even with her eyes shut, she was aware that she was outside, that it was night, and that she was lying on her back on rough stone.

And she wasn't alone.

"Darling, you know I support your hobbies," a man was saying somewhere to her right. "Just, this time, I'd appreciate it if you didn't get blood on the carpets. They're antiques."

"Yes, Rodolphus," a woman responded, annoyance laced through her voice. "That's why I'm _outside_ this time. If you don't want to play, you can go back inside."

"You're sure she won't escape?" The man – Rodolphus – asked.

The woman snorted. "Animals aren't smart enough to escape." The clicking of shoes on stone approached, and Catherine felt something warm on the side of her face. "Wakey wakey."

"Have fun, dear," Rodolphus called from the background, sounding bored. "When you're done, I'll have a bottle of wine waiting in the parlor." There was the sound of a door opening and shutting with finality.

The toe of a shoe prodded her side. Catherine forced her body to stay limp. _Asleep. I'm asleep_. Behind her closed eyelids, she could feel the tears threatening to spill.

She was going to die.

Sirius had been right. His cousin was absolutely insane. And the moment she opened her eyes, the woman would torture her and kill her. Someone who enjoyed torture would know how to hide the bodies. No one would ever know what happened to her.

The clicking circled around towards her feet, then started to move along her left side. Catherine remained as still as she could. She was outnumbered, over-powered, and no one would hear her if she screamed for help. She would only have one chance at this, and if she failed…the clicking continued to her left, approaching her shoulder. Lashing out with everything she had, Catherine flew at the legs of her captor.

The woman shouted a curse as she fell to the ground. Not bothering to look back, Catherine rolled to her stomach, pushed herself to her feet, and broke into a frantic run.

"_Crucio_!"

White-hot pain shot through every millimeter of her body. Over and over and over, it stabbed and tore and burned. There was nothing but pain. No sensation but absolute, all encompassing agony and the desire to die. Anything to make the pain stop. After what seemed an eternity, the pain subsided and Catherine became aware that she was curled in a ball on the large stone patio, her body twitching uncontrollably.

"That was _very_ clever," the woman mocked, sauntering across the stones. "I must remember to tell dear cousin Sirius when I pay my condolences." She stopped just outside of arm's reach and squatted on the patio so that she was closer to Catherine's level, yet still above her. Tilting her head to the side, she studied her prey and pulled a large, silver dagger from the folds of her dress. Reaching out, she rested the tip of the dagger on Catherine's cheek.

She heard herself whimper as her body continued to spasm. Something warm began to run across her face.

Her captor smiled, the expression giving her a wild look. She removed the dagger and studied it a moment, making a clucking noise. "What _are_ we going to do with you?" She twirled the knife in her hand and watched as the blade spun around and around. "So many choices…."

"Please…" Catherine whispered.

"Please what?" The woman stood, her voice taking on an edge. "Please let you leave? Please return you to your family, to _him_? He's the reason you're here! But you know that." She began to slowly circle Catherine like a vulture, her black gown fluttering with the movement. "He wasn't worth it, was he? A man who doesn't even love you. So pathetic." She made a 'tsk' sound and shook her head. "Well, they say death brings clarity." With a flourish, she changed the direction of her circle. "Now, Catherine – I hope you don't mind if I use your first name, what with you being _nearly_ family and all - you and I are going to play a little game. Here's how it works. I'm going to go over there and sit in that chair for, oh, I'm feeling generous, let's say fifteen minutes." She laughed gleefully. "Yes. That's very generous. When time's up, I'm going to come looking for you. If you manage to leave my husband's estate before I find you, you get to skip off into the sunset. If not…well, a few seconds of the Cruciatus Curse will be nothing compared to what I have planned for you." She stopped her circling and leaned forward. "I've never lost, so use your time wisely." With another joyful laugh, she straightened up and nearly skipped over to a wrought iron table with matching chairs. With a flutter of black skirts, she settled herself into one of the chairs and waved a hand in Catherine's direction. "Go on. Time's ticking."

Her muscles screamed a protest as she tried to sit. Feeling dizzy, Catherine rubbed at her temples and looked up at the real life incarnation of General Zaroff with more hatred than she ever knew she possessed. If this woman was giving her a chance to escape, then escape was impossible. She was just drawing it out, getting sick pleasure in seeing her victims realize they were completely helpless. Catherine swiped at her eyes, feeling her cheek sting where the tears mixed with the blood. There was a part of her that wanted to just curl back into a ball and remain where she was. Either way she was dead, and at least that way she wouldn't be hunted like an animal.

Because these people thought she _was_ an animal. Something without feelings, without intelligence. Stubbornly, Catherine pushed herself to her feet. With a last look at her captor, she limped towards the edge of the patio.

"Twelve minutes!" The woman called after her. "I'd start running if I were you."

"Move," Catherine whispered to herself, forcing each foot in front of the other. Each step came easier, and she broke into a jog as she entered the vast grounds. Think. She had to think. Tearing through the woods that stretched forth in front of her would provide nothing but a straight line from the house to wherever she was, and there wasn't time to pick carefully through the underbrush. Darting across the expansive lawn to her left was an exercise in futility. With a half-moon and a cloudless night, there would be no place to hide. Which left the gardens on the right of the house. Some choice. She could only hide among the ornate hedges for so long before she was found.

After a moment's hesitation, Catherine turned right and began to run through the rows of rose bushes, climbing vines, and flowering bushes. Please let there be something on the other side that could shelter her, give her time to think long enough to formulate a plan to survive. Pain pinched at her side as she ran, and she suddenly slipped on the wet grass. She pitched forward with nothing to break her fall and slammed into the ground. Gasping for breath, she climbed to her feet. An arch in the ornately trimmed hedge to her left appeared several meters ahead, and she took off towards it. Please. Please. Please. A way out. Someplace safe. Please…

From behind, an arm suddenly grabbed her around the waist while a hand clamped over her mouth. No! Catherine tried to scream as she kicked at the assailant who pulled her, struggling, further into the gardens. Her teeth closed on the hand over her mouth and she was rewarded as the hand was removed with a hiss of pain.

"Stop struggling." A familiar-sounding male voice whispered in her ear.

Sirius! Sirius was here. He'd found her and he was going to save her and take her home. She tried to turn towards him.

"Don't move, Catherine," he whispered again. "And be quiet or you'll get us both killed." He wrapped his other arm tightly around her and there was a long pause. "Three," he whispered, "Two, one." Suddenly, from the far side of the house, a series of explosions shot through the air. Catherine looked up in time to see a flash of colors as fireworks lit up the sky before the world swirled dizzily and went black.

With a jolt, she fell forward and landed on her hands and knees in a grassy lawn.

"Just breathe." A hand rested on her shoulder. "You're safe."

Catherine sucked in great gulps of air and felt her arms give out. Letting them, she collapsed onto the lawn as sobs wracked her body. She wasn't sure how much time passed, but she vaguely aware of when her rescuer pulled her into his arms and let her bury her face in his hooded sweatshirt.

"Shh. It's okay. It's over." His hand stroked her back, and, slowly, she felt her sobs subside into hiccups until she finally was able to sit back on her own. Swiping at her eyes, she finally got her first look at the man who saved her.

He wasn't Sirius, but he bore a striking similarity to him, though he was thinner and probably a bit shorter. They had the same dark hair – although this man wore his short – the same nose and jaw, the same striking gray eyes. A relative then. This must be another nice relative, like Andromeda. The sleeves of his sweatshirt had been pushed up, and she caught a glimpse of an intricate tattoo on one arm. He noticed her staring at it and quickly pushed his sleeve down. "A childish mistake."

"Who _are_ you?" Catherine asked.

"I'm an old friend of Sirius's. You can call me Art." He studied her for a moment. "Are you hurt?"

"She, that woman…" Catherine started.

"Bellatrix. Her name is Bellatrix Lestrange," Art supplied.

The name sounded familiar. Sirius had spoken about a Bellatrix. Catherine tried to remember the names of the relatives he was convinced would kill her. Bellatrix and Regulus. That's right. Catherine wrapped her arms around herself and looked back to Art. "She, she did something and there was, it hurt so much…."

"The Cruciatus Curse," Art offered as he continued to study her. "Other than that, are you hurt? I never tried apparating with a Muggle, and I worried about splicing, but compared to the alternative…"

"How did you know about me? Where's Sirius? How did you get to that house?" The questions poured out of her mouth. "What if they find me again? Where are we? Where's Sirius?"

"We're in a park about two blocks from Sirius's house." Art stood and offered her his hand.

Catherine let him pull her to her feet, then impulsively wrapped her arms tightly around him. "Thank you," she whispered. She should be dead. She would have been dead without him. She felt the tears well up again and didn't care.

Art stood completely still, then awkwardly returned the hug. "You're welcome," he said finally. He gently disentangled himself from her embrace, then put an arm around her to support her. "Come on. Let's get you home."

_Note: Catherine's comparison of Bellatrix to General Zaroff is an allusion to the villain of Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game."_


	10. Chapter 10

**Part Ten:**

"And then Art brought me here and you were all yelling in the yard and then Sirius was there and…" Catherine trailed off before finishing lamely with, "You know the rest."

The room fell silent. Remus and Peter exchanged a look, while Lily stared in horror at an antique lamp Sirius had acquired long ago from a second hand shop. James shuddered involuntarily and reached for Lily's hand. Sirius shut his eyes, tightening his grip on Catherine. She should be dead. His imagination easily began putting together the torment Bellatrix would have unleashed upon Catherine once she was caught…all because of him. She would have been tortured and murdered because he had the audacity to love her.

The front door opened, breaking the silence as the Prewetts stumbled into the room. Fabian caught Sirius's eye and shook his head once. No sign of Catherine's mysterious rescuer. Gideon shut the door behind them. "Warmth." He quickly took up a position beside the heater. "Oh, warmth! How I have missed you!" He looked around the room. "Marlene didn't make it back yet, then?"

"Not yet," Remus said softly, a touch of coldness in his voice.

"You didn't find Art." Catherine glanced from one Prewett brother to the other, looking very much like an abandoned puppy. Sirius felt an irrational stab of jealousy and pulled her protectively against his side.

"I don't think Art wants to be found," Fabian replied. "If anyone knew he rescued you, he'd find himself dead faster than you can say 'you-know-who'."

"Voldemort doesn't care about Catherine," Sirius told him. That much he was sure about. Once Voldemort decided you should die, you were dead within the day. If Voldemort wanted Catherine dead, she wouldn't be here right now. "This whole thing was Bellatrix's and Regulus's pet project. He probably didn't even know about it."

"Fabian," Gideon said from his place by the heater, "He doesn't know."

Fabian turned towards Sirius. "The Lestrange estate is under nearly as many magical protections as this place. To even get on the grounds, you have to have the Dark Mark or be escorted by someone who does."

Sirius stared at him, trying to let the words sink into his already overwhelmed brain.

Lily's brain was working faster than his. "Art is a Death Eater," She breathed. She turned to Catherine. "You said he had a tattoo on one arm? Do you remember what it was?"

Catherine scrunched up her face, trying to remember. "I…there was so much going on. I think there was a snake."

James had picked up a piece of parchment and was scribbling on it furiously. He passed it to Catherine. Sirius glanced over her shoulder to see a rough sketch of the Dark Mark. "That's it." She confirmed.

Lily straightened up in her chair. "And you said he had dark hair?" She asked excitedly.

Catherine nodded. "And his eyes were gray, like Sirius's."

A shadow crossed through Lily's eyes as her face fell. "Right." She glanced at the ceiling for several moments before standing. "Sirius? Where do you keep your herbs?"

That was the most random question he'd ever heard. "Uh…in the little spinny thing Cat got for me," he replied. He forgot what it was called, although he did have to admit that it made finding things in his cabinets much easier.

"I meant the ones you use for potions, not the ones you use for dinner," Lily elaborated.

"Oh, uh…" he had to think about that one. He never had been all that fond of potions. It wasn't very flashy and it required spending hours in front of a cauldron. Oh, and reading. There was so much reading for potions. "I think everything's down in a corner in the basement?" He guessed. He hadn't really bothered with the subject since Seventh Year.

"Because _that's_a sensible place for it." Lily muttered. She shook her head as she climbed to her feet. "I'm going to go put together a dreamless sleep potion." Without giving anyone a chance to respond, she quickly retreated from the room.

James frowned. "What was _that_about?"

Sirius shrugged. Lily's issues were really not at the top of the list of things he cared about at the moment.

Remus sighed, "You two are really thick, you know that?" He shook his head. "She was hoping Art was Snape." Seeing James open his mouth, Remus held up a hand. "And before you say anything, Prongs, just stop and think how you'd feel if Padfoot decided to become a Death Eater and devoted his life towards killing people like you."

James was silent for a moment. "I'll go talk to her," he said finally. He moved to follow Lily, nearly colliding with Marlene McKinnon as she came in the front door.

"Everything's quiet at the Lestrange estate now," she announced, joining Gideon by the heater. She studied it curiously. "What a remarkable thing…"

"Isn't it?" Gideon remarked, making room for her. "It just…makes heat. I have to remember to tell Arthur about it."

Sirius ignored the conversation, turning his attention back to Catherine. "Cat, I don't mean to be…judgmental, but you haven't told us and I really, really need to know…_why_did you ever leave class to begin with?"

"Because of the note from Peter," she said simply.

"What?" Peter sat up quickly in his chair.

Catherine nodded. "I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't from one of you. The note said that Sirius had been ambushed and that James and Remus took him to the hospital and that Peter was supposed to come get me and take me there immediately." She dropped Sirius's hand and fumbled in her jeans pocket for several moments before producing a folded piece of parchment. Wordlessly, she handed it to him.

"I didn't write…" Peter started, visibly shaking.

"We know you didn't, Pete," Remus told him kindly.

"It's probably from Regulus." Sirius unfolded it and immediately recognized the handwriting. Well. That was a surprise. How large _was_Bellatrix's reach? "I take it back. Regulus didn't write this. Lucius Malfoy did." He handed the letter to Remus.

"You're sure?" Remus looked at it quickly, then passed it to Peter.

"Positive. I can look at a page and memorize it, remember? When Regulus and I were kids and Mum would leave us with Narcissa so she could go do whatever it was she did, we used to swipe the love letters Narcissa got from Lucius and make fun of them." Sirius shook his head. "That's most definitely his handwriting."

"I…I….I need…" Peter suddenly bolted from the room, looking ill.

Remus stood. "I'll talk to him."

"I'm sorry," Catherine said softly. "I didn't mean to…I know that Peter isn't to blame. I was so stupid. This is all my fault."

"This is _not_your fault," Fabian told her. "This is what Death Eaters do. They prey upon people they perceive as weaker or inferior to them. Half-bloods, Muggle-borns, Muggles, other magical races…. If they have their way, we're all going to end up enslaved or dead."

"You're a pure-blood," Marlene reminded him.

"I'm a blood traitor and proud of it," Fabian corrected. "I'm as dead as everyone else."

"This is what I'm fighting for," Sirius said quietly. "What we're all fighting for. I'd rather face death than live in Voldemort's world."

"You sound like Lily," James remarked. Sirius jumped. He hadn't even seen him return, but there he was, leaning against the doorframe between the front parlor and the main hall.

"Yeah, well," Sirius gave his best friend a small smile, "I might have borrowed part of that speech from her. Your wife's a rather bright witch, you know."

"I do." James grinned. "Although it does get a bit infuriating when she's always right about _everything_."

"So what happens now?" Catherine asked.

"We'll go report to Dumbledore about what happened," Gideon replied. "He might want to talk with you himself, make sure you're okay and all. We'll have to step up security. Maybe Fabian or I could enroll in your classes as extra back-up or something."

Catherine was silent as she thoughtfully turned her eyes on Sirius. "I'm not," she frowned, "I'm never going to be safe here, am I?" There was acceptance in her voice.

Even if they hadn't just completely failed to keep her safe, it wasn't worth lying about. James was right. Catherine had a right to know everything before she made any decisions. "No." He hesitated, then added, "At least not as long as they think we're together."

She gave him a wane smile. "Even if we weren't, that won't stop them. Not now." Catherine laughed slightly. "I've made quite a mess of my life, haven't I?" She looked away and wrapped her arms around herself. "Pathetic," she whispered.

Fabian cleared his throat. "Uh, I think we'll go, er, report to Dumbledore now."

"We will?" Gideon asked. Fabian hit him on the back of the head and he glared at his brother. "Right. Yes. We will. Come on, Marlene."

"I'm going to help Lily with her potion. You both go on without me." Marlene linked her arm with James's. "Come on, Potter. You know your way around this place."

Suddenly, there was a flurry of motion. The Prewetts threw on their coats and were out the front door, while James and Marlene quickly disappeared down the hallway. Sirius could hear the door to the basement open and shut, and then they were alone. The silence was instantly suffocating. Sirius stared at the carpet. He wasn't quite sure what to say. 'Well, it looks like your father was right about me' really didn't seem appropriate. "Catherine?"

She glanced up at him.

"I'm sorry." He sighed, feeling the weight of the situation settle heavily upon his shoulders. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen to you. If I'd known this would happen, I never would have picked up your pen in that coffee shop."

"I know." Her voice was dull. "Well." She paused, then repeated, "Well. Professor Cromwell keeps trying to talk to me about art school. He has a friend in Rome who expressed interest in having me study there. I could probably transfer." She paused. "You know? I wanted nothing more than to go to art school last year. I just knew Mum and Dad would go postal if I even considered it, so I didn't. And now, well, now I don't care if they do." She looked away before adding, "Maybe that's the good that comes out of all of this."

Rome was certainly safer than London. Putting over a thousand kilometers between Catherine and Bellatrix would certainly help increase Catherine's life expectancy. And it sounded like this would actually let her pursue her dreams. It was just…she'd also be over a thousand kilometers away from _him_.

Maybe that was what she wanted.

She certainly wasn't acting like she expected him to continue to be a part of her life. He didn't blame her. He knew he wasn't exactly a catch. Instead of contributing to society or getting educated or doing any of the things responsible young men were supposed to do, he was living off his inheritance and playing the part of the devil-may-care rebel. Hell, he spent large amounts of his time committing various felonies for the Order and his own family wanted to kill him. He certainly couldn't offer anything resembling a stable life. And as for romance? He was pretty pathetic when it came to the romance department. His only real girlfriend before Catherine had been Andrea McLauflin, and that hadn't exactly ended well. Okay, it had ended in his total and complete humiliation in front of the entire student body at Hogwarts. While he'd thought he was in love with Andrea, he certainly never felt for her the things he felt for Catherine.

"Cat?" Sirius broke the silence again. He waited until she looked at him, then took her hand in his. "James says I'm an idiot." He ignored her confused look and charged ahead. "He also says that I need to, well, to tell you everything. So, here's what I think." He took a deep breath. "If you can go to Rome, do it, because you'll be safe there. It kills me to think about you being that far away, but, well, I love you and I'd rather you be safe and far away than in a cemetery here."

She stared at him, shock written across her face.

To their left, the door opened. "I'm sure Padfoot doesn't think…" Remus was saying. He froze and Peter collided with his back.

Sirius looked up at the ceiling. "Really? You do this to me _now_?"

"Let's go find Prongs," Remus announced. He began walking backwards out of the room dragging Peter along with him. The door to the hall swung shut.

"Sirius?" Catherine's voice was hesitant. He looked back at her. She was still staring at him, the shocked expression giving way to disbelief. "Did you just say that you loved me?"

"Uh," he rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah. I didn't do it right, did I?" He wasn't quite sure _how_a bloke was supposed to confess love. James had just followed Lily around everywhere, asking her out. Peter once planned an elaborate dinner date for a girlfriend he was in love with. Remus, well, he didn't know if Remus had ever been in love. It was a safe bet, however, that one probably shouldn't say 'I love you' for the first time when telling one's girlfriend that she needed to hide from one's murderous relatives in a foreign country.

"You love me?" Catherine asked again.

"I love you," he confirmed. "And I know that this is the worst timing…" He was cut off as Catherine kissed him. His brain managed to tell him that this was a positive reaction as her arms slid around his neck, and then he didn't really think about anything for several minutes.

She broke away far too soon. He certainly wasn't done. Sirius reached for her and felt her push him away. "What are we doing?" Catherine whispered.

"I thought you were snogging me," he replied, his mind still foggy. He'd been hoping things would continue to their natural conclusion. The moment she'd kissed him, all he'd known was that he needed this, needed to celebrate that she was alive, needed to…live. Talking certainly hadn't been part of the equation. Somewhere in the back reaches of his mind, an alarm was sounding. This was not good.

"Your cousin tried to kill me. You're fighting a war against evil personified. I'm about to go hide in another country." Catherine sat back. "Doesn't any of this sound insane to you? What are we thinking? This, you and me…it can't work. In what world could it ever possibly work?"

"Do you love me?" He asked.

"Of course I do," Catherine started, "But…"

"But nothing." Sirius forced himself to sit up. "Maybe it's crazy, but there's got to be a way. This, you and me, it could work. Maybe we'll be the next James and Lily, or maybe six months from now we'll decide that we never were right for each other, but we won't know if we don't try." He held out his hand to her. "I want to try."


	11. Chapter 11

**Epilogue:**

_August 1995_

There were times when he was certain his old friend had gone round the bend.

This was one of those times. Bracing himself, Remus Lupin paused just outside the ring of candlelight. "Padfoot? It's two in the morning."

Sirius shrugged, not looking away from the tapestry displaying his family's genealogy. "Not like I'm going anywhere tomorrow," he said sourly.

Remus noticed the half-empty bottle of fire whiskey beside Sirius and tried not to wince. The overprotective side of him wanted to march in and take the bottle, but his logical side told him that it wouldn't do any good. He should just go to bed and leave Sirius to wallow in his misery alone. It wasn't like anything he said or did was going to make a difference. Even when they were kids, when Sirius would get into one of his depressive funks, nothing would bring him out of it. After spending years in Azkaban, the funks were more pronounced and longer lasting…and just as impossible to break. Remus sighed, stepped into the room, and took a seat on the floor beside his friend. "What are we doing?" He always was a sucker for the impossible.

"Thinking," Sirius replied, his eyes still on the tapestry. "I hate all of them, you know."

"I know," Remus said. "Harry said you were telling him about them this afternoon."

"Yeah." Sirius shrugged. "He asked about Mum and Dad and Regulus." He made a face. "Worthless, the lot of them."

"I never really met your Dad, but I won't disagree about your Mum." While he'd only spoken to Mrs. Black once during her life, she'd made it quite clear that he was not welcome in her house. Apparently, half-bloods were unacceptable playmates for her children. Remus always wondered what she'd have done if he'd told her he was a werewolf. Of course, that question was more or less answered now thanks to Sirius's dark sense of humor and the painting in the hall. He frowned as he studied the tapestry. "Not sure if I'd call your brother worthless, though. He tried to get out in the end, didn't he?"

Sirius snorted. "That's what Andromeda told me. He got cold feet. Voldemort had someone kill him."

Remus didn't dare look at Sirius. "Do you think it's because Voldemort found out about Catherine?"

Sirius became completely still and Remus knew he'd asked the one question too many. While James Potter's death topped list of Topics Never To Be Discussed, followed closely by Lily and then Peter's betrayal, he was well aware that the topic of Catherine O'Neal also fell on that list. After a prolonged period of silence, Sirius finally asked, "What do you mean by _that_?"

_In for a penny, in for a pound._"I've long suspected that Regulus was the Death Eater that rescued her from Bellatrix that night," Remus told him. "Catherine always insisted he looked like you. She had a good eye for detail. Besides, what other Death Eater looks like you?"

"You mean other than me," Sirius said darkly. "Considering that everyone believes I _am_ a Death Eater. Sold James and Lily to Voldemort. Murdered Peter and all those Muggles. Escaped Azkaban using the Dark Arts that I learned at Voldemort's knee." He laughed, the sound more frightening than joyful. "And don't say that no one believes that, Moony, because _you_believed it. Still would if it weren't for Harry and that damned Map."

Part of him wanted to apologize. Once he learned the truth, he'd hated himself for thinking ill of his friend, of living – or at least existing - in the free world while Sirius sat behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. Another part of him wanted to point out that Sirius had believed _he_ was the one trying to sell James and Lily to Voldemort, and to stop being a damned hypocrite. After all, if Sirius had just trusted him the way friends were _supposed_to trust each other, none of this would have happened to begin with. Fortunately, the logical part of his mind over-ruled everything else and he kept his mouth shut.

"I can only imagine what she thought." Sirius muttered, more to himself. "Must have felt like a fool. Thought I'd played her. It's the perfect ruse, isn't it? Nobody would suspect that the guy with the Muggle girlfriend would be a spy for Voldemort."

"I wouldn't know what she thought about you going to Azkaban for murder," Remus said evenly, keeping his eyes trained on the tapestry, "Since she doesn't know."

Sirius became still again. "Start talking."

Remus sighed. "I _intended_to tell her what a bastard you were. After the funerals, I had to get out of here. I was falling apart. Dumbledore found me this job opportunity in Pompeii. It didn't pan out, what with me being a werewolf and all, but while I was there, I took a trip to Rome. I was angry and hurt and confused, and I was going to tell her everything. I figured she deserved to know what you did." Remus finally looked over at Sirius, who was staring intently at his bottle of fire whiskey. "When she opened the door, she took one look at me, and assumed I was there to tell her you were dead. She completely fell apart, Pads." He paused, "At the time, I thought it was less cruel to let her believe you had been killed by Voldemort than to tell her what we all believed to be the truth."

Sirius said nothing for a long time. After what seemed like hours, he looked at Remus. "Thank you," he said softly.

He narrowed his eyes. "It wasn't done out of friendship. It was done out of pity. It's not something you should thank me for."

"All the same…I'm glad she never had to think…I did love her, Moony." Sirius sighed. "I know I don't want to know, but now that we're, well, talking about it, I have to…do you know what happened to her?"

"We exchanged letters for a few years." Remus told him. "She eventually got a job teaching art in Canada and we lost touch."

"Canada." An odd, almost ironic look appeared on Sirius's face. He picked up his bottle of fire whiskey and took a long swig before returning to his study of the tapestry. "Moony? We aren't going to get a Happily Ever After, are we?"

Remus sighed. Ever since Voldemort returned, that question had been laying heavily on his mind. He couldn't really see a way things would end happily. "No," he finally said. "No, you and I aren't going to get a Happily Ever After."

Sirius lay back on the floor and stared at the ceiling. "What are we doing this for?" He finally asked. "Why are we even bothering to fight? What difference will it make in the end? When people like the Malfoys are happy and James and Lily are six feet under the ground in Godric's Hollow?"

It was a question he'd wrestled with over and over and over again. And there really was only one answer. "Because James and Lily would want Harry to get a Happily Ever After. He doesn't have to live in Voldemort's world. It's too late for us, but it's not too late for him."

Sirius pondered that for several minutes before sitting up and picking up his bottle once again. He raised it in the air and looked at Remus. "To Harry, then." He took a long swig from the bottle and passed it to Remus.

Remus took a quick mouthful and winced at the strength of the drink. Blinking, he handed the bottle back to Sirius. "To Harry."


End file.
